Mr John McMenamin SC was chairman of the Bar Council from 1997 to 1999. During that time there was a dispute between the council and the Government about fees for lawyers in the criminal legal aid scheme - these were then increased.
Born in Dublin in 1952, he attended Terenure College and then UCD, where he studied history. He studied law at the King's Inns and was called to the Bar in 1975. He became a senior counsel in 1991.
He had a mixed practice, with an emphasis on commercial, insurance and defamation cases. He represented the Sunday Independent in the De Rossa libel trial and was also involved in the Beaumont Hospital neurosurgery case.
He successfully represented Ms Fatima Kelly, a Sudanese woman who married an Irish man in London. The validity of her marriage was contested by the Department of Justice, which sought to deny her Irish citizenship.
Mr MacMenamin was a member of the VHI board (1995-1997) and of the Temple Bar Music Centre (1994 to 1997).
Earlier this year he married Ms Lia O'Hegarty, counsel to the Oireachtas.